PROGRESS

4 years ago

Boy Scouts Will Allow Gay Members

Win McNamee/Getty Images

It looks like the Boy Scouts are slowly entering the 21st century. The organization voted Thursday to allow gay members, months after doing an about-face on its long-held ban on permitting gay youths to participate in Scouting. But don’t rejoice yet: openly gay adult leaders are still banned. The ban on openly gay members dated back to 1991, based it on the Boy Scout oath—written in 1911—which said all Scouts must be "physically strong, mentally alert, and morally straight." Lifting the ban had support from about 60 percent of the 1,440 volunteer leaders who had gathered in Dallas for the vote. In a statement, the Boy Scouts said they would not allow themselves to be "consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue." The ban's reversal will go into effect January 1, 2014.